412 BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



The stomach is membranous, and the food consists princi- 

 pally of fish. 



Forehead, line over the eye, chin, and throat white ; lores, 

 crown of the head, and nape black ; back, wings, and tail light 

 sooty brown, the outer tail-feather being white at the base 

 and on the outer web for two-third of its length ; edge of 

 the shoulder and under surface of the wing white ; under 

 surface white, slightly washed with grey ; irides blackish 

 brown ; bill black ; legs and feet blackish green. 



Genus ANOUS, Leach. 



" The Noddies," remarks Mr. Jerdon, " are well-known 

 oceanic birds, frequenting tropical and juxta-tropical seas. 

 They differ from most Terns in their even or somewhat 

 rounded tails ; and still more in the manner of their flight, 

 which is steady and slow. They settle on the water when 

 taking their food, which consists chiefly of mollusks and fatty 

 matter ; and they are very silent birds. Sundevall, who noted 

 these differences, states that in their mode of life they resem- 

 ble Petrels rather than Terns." . 



Unlike other Terns which frequent the sea-shores and 

 rivers, the Noddies frequent the wide ocean, far remote from 

 land, and which, like the Petrels, they seldom quit, except at 

 the breeding- season, when they congregate in vast multitudes 

 on small islands suited to the purpose. Great nurseries of 

 this kind are to be found in every ocean ; in the North 

 Atlantic, one of the Tortugas, called Noddy Key, is a favourite 

 resort, and the Bahama Islands are another; in the South 

 Pacific and Indian Oceans, beside other situations, the Hout- 

 mann's Abrolhos, off the western coast of Australia, and 

 on Bramble Key in Torres Straits, are resorted to in such 

 immense numbers that Mr. Gilbert was perfectly astonished 

 at the multitudes with which he found himself surrounded, 

 upon landing on those remote and little-explored islands. 



